HURON SWEAT BATHS

paper presented at the annual meeting of the
Canadian Archaeological Association held in St. John's, Newfoundland, 1972

There are clusters of tiny posts that appear regularly in the middle of Huron longhouses. Little posts, long familiar to excavators, but still enigmatic.

These tiny features are often called "hearth posts" by observers who have noted their association with hearths. This is an unfortunate term for something whose precise use is unknown, because it implies that the posts are subordinate to hearths, or incidental to hearths. It implies that the posts have no meaning apart from hearths. That implied dependency has restricted thoughts about the uses of the posts to inferring a place in activities like cooking. I propose we disabuse ourselves of these illusions, breaking the essential link between posts and hearths, then re-examining the posts, noticing their individual and group characteristics. A local cluster of nine houses at Cahiagué (a large village near Orillia, dating from the second decade of the seventeenth century) will be inspected toward that end. I will then introduce ethnohistoric material, indicating a low probability that the posts are associated with food preparation, and a high probability that they represent structures with quite a different purpose. Finally, I will indulge in speculation about the prehistory of these structures, describing a counterpoint between them, and ossuary burial.

The original connection between the posts and hearths, seems to come from the fact that the posts appear, throughout the Huron sequence after Miller (c. A.D. 1100), to occur in clusters, ‘in the mid-line of longhouses, localized "around" or "beside" hearths (Figure. 1). This restricted distribution is in contrast with that of other posts and pits which can spread widely across the house. Many of the "hearth posts" are filled with ash or charcoal, creating the illusion of association with hearths. The posts are very small, averaging 1"- 2" in diameter, in contrast to all other posts which are larger. It is difficult from their size and scatter, to imagine that they are necessary to the structure of the house, but why else should they occur so frequently? The immediate answer seems to be, "they supplement the fires."

The answer is inadequate. First, the posts do not occur with all hearths. In fact, at Cahiagué, the posts do not even occur in all houses, and they are totally absent from four of the nine houses considered. To be sure, the little posts are absent only from the smaller houses, but even these all show evidence of the domestic use of fire - hearths, ash, charcoal, charred corn, charred bone, fire-cracked rock and pottery. So, it is quite possible to have fireplaces, and cook at them, without leaving any trace of the small posts.

Second, one can find evidence of other constraints which would steer the small posts into the centre of houses, much as the hearths are steered there. Independent of the hearths, but for parallel reasons. Within the houses, there are lines of posts on each side, several feet from the outer wall. These patterns coincide with the location of sidewall platforms or benches described by early explorers and missionaries, benches called Endicha, about four feet high, on top of which the people sometimes sleep and sit, under which they store wood. Such benches need not restrict the distribution of pits or even, in a pinch, structurally necessary posts. But they could impose restraints upon the location of a fire-place, or upon the location of a temporary structure within the house. Both of these would bias toward the clear mid-line of the house, which is precisely where hearths and post clusters are normally found.

If it is possible to consider that hearths and post clusters may be in the mid-line for similar, but independent reasons, it becomes immediately clear that, along this mid-line, the post clusters where the hearths are not. Indeed, some of the posts are 10' -15' away from the nearest hearth. And there is no evidence that the posts are arranged symmetrically around the hearths. Of all the little posts, a very, very few are "in" a hearth, this alone suggesting a temporary location when the fireplace was not in use.

Some systematic, general observations are possible about the Cahiagué posts, individually and in their groups:

In summary, then, the post groupings show circular tendencies; somehow they are related to hearths; whole clusters should be "pulled apart" into groupings or perhaps structures of fewer posts; these groupings were temporary, and removed when done with; there was a house around them, because the holes are filled with house debris and the patterns are sensitive to house restraints; if they composed structures, these were smaller and less substantial than the houses, although large enough in bulk or related activities that they could not be squeezed under the side-benches.

It is difficult to pull apart the clusters into specific, individual structures. But some advantage may be gained through a series of graded observations, proceeding in stages from clear and unequivocal situations, to those that are more confused. Doing so, it is possible to discern at least six fairly clear patterns, in the make-up of some clusters.

Pattern I is clear in three instances (Figure. 2a, Figure 2b). Outside HOUSE 6, abutting the east end, there is a circle of shallow posts, measuring 2 ¾' x 3' . Partly overlapping the circle, there is a pit, actually an ashy stain, itself superimposing a deep post, and containing charcoal, burnt bone and fire-cracked rock. Within HOUSE 3, at the eastern end of a post cluster there is a circle of shallow posts, measuring 2 ¾' x 3¼' . Directly in the centre of this circle, there is a shallow, ash-filled pit with some traces of fire-reddened sand. Within HOUSE 6, at the western end of a cluster, there is a single circular line of posts, enclosing an area 5' across. This, then, is pattern I, a single circle of posts, whether approximating 3' in diameter or 5' .

Patterns II. III and IV are more similar to one another than they are to the other patterns. A major step in recognizing each case involves inspecting the cluster’s edge and reconciling it with the pattern of open spaces within the cluster. Pattern II (overlapping linear) is apparent in HOUSE 6, directly east of the individual pattern defined above. Here the cluster has a scalloped edge comprising various adjoining curves, while the open spaces within are interrupted by lines or groups of posts. If one continues the discrete edge curvatures across posts in the centre of the cluster, one can see a series of overlapping circles with diameters approximating 4½' , and 3' or 3¼' .

Pattern III (honey comb) represents one extreme of departure from pattern II in that the circles are more adjacent and nestling than overlapping, creating a "honey comb" effect in the open spaces. This is visible in HOUSE 6, west of the pattern II manifestation, and the diameters of the recognizable circles approximate 4½' , 3½' and 2¾'. Pattern IV (overlapping circular) represents another extreme of departure from pattern II, since there are a large number of circles involved, they overlap, and their centres move through a circle or oval as large as the constituents themselves. This is visible in HOUSE 4, and the diameters of the constituent circles range from 2¾' to 3½'.

Patterns V and VI are also more similar to one another, at least in localizing principle, than they are to any of the other patterns. Pattern V (çoncentric stable) can be seen in HOUSE 8, where there is a series of post clusters arranged in a circular pattern around an open centre. There is a pit in the centre. One can imagine a series of concentric circles here, stable as to centre around the pit, relatively stable as to size (diameters around 4 ½' -5 ' ) and each circle comprising 5 to 7 posts. There is variation in the precise position any post would occupy, but a relatively high degree of stability in the general positioning of posts. This concentric arrangement of equal circles, with clustering of post stations, is pattern V.

Pattern VI (concentric irregular) visible in HOUSE 5, is somewhat different, in that, while the circles are reasonably concentric, yet the centres do move somewhat, the circles are of different sizes (diameters range between about 2 ½' and 4 ½' ), and the sequential posts show no simple tendency to cluster.

What can one say about these patterns? They probably do not exhaust the possibilities, since a number of clusters resisted first efforts to break them down. The patterns described are real, however since they are recognizable and non-random. They are non-random because one is discrete and repeated (I), while the others fall into two groups (II III IV and V VI) with a generic consistency within each group. Furthermore, with the single exception of pattern II, all of the patterns can be readily spotted on other sites (see Table II).

The patterns describe the spatial relationship of closely clustered circular structures to one another. I assume that the patterns grew through time, with structures going up and coming down in sequence. If individual structures are separate in time, then patterns III (honey comb) and V (concentric stable) are particularly remarkable, since they imply the operation of fine locational constraints, and of a "memory". With pattern V, perhaps the central pit acts as a "memory" and structure guide. But it is difficult to account for the generation of distinct honey comb patterns on four different widely separated sites.

While we have not succeeded in "pulling apart" the post clusters in any detailed manner, yet the preceding observation permit at least three general statements:

Among the first-hand observers of Huron life, Gabriel Sagard consistently documents domestic activities in greatest detail. In one long passage which describes eight different ways of cooking, there is no reference to upright posts around the hearth. In the descriptions of drying and storing food on racks, there is no reference to upright posts around the hearth.

There is a reference to the infrequent use of a skin and fur "de-louser" which does use two sticks stood beside a fireplace. A robe would be set over these two sticks and lice driven out from the depths of the fur by the heat would be plucked and eaten. There is another reference to the practice of fattening dogs or young bears for important feasts, without any danger from their teeth or claws, "by shutting them up in the middle of their lodge in a little round enclosure made with stakes sunk in the ground, and there they give them the remains of their sagamite to eat."

Each of these structures, "de-louser" and animal pen, is probably responsible for some of the small, clustered posts at Cahiagué and elsewhere. However, there is little in the ethnohistoric record to suggest that either structure was used often enough to generate all of the stains that are recorded in the floor plans of excavated houses. At least both seem infrequent relative to another structure which Sagard describes:

Several points arise from this reference: sweat baths can be in the "middle of the longhouse"; they tend to be round, small and temporary; they are used frequently; they tend to be used by groups of men, who come by invitation, to share in another's hospitality; their use is related to health. Each of these points can be further documented and elaborated.

The frequent use of sweat baths is directly confirmed by Lafitau who says "The sweat bath is their most universal remedy, and of it they make a great deal of use". Indirect confirmation can be seen in the sheer number of references to sweat baths. They are described by Champlain, Brebeuf, Ragueneau, Lalemant twice, and four times by Le Mercier, as well as by Sagard and Lafitau.

There are two modes of sweat bath use, one individual and the other communal. Of eleven references, five speak of man or Oqui, and once it is the relative of a sick captain. Otherwise group participation is stressed. Three generalized statements speak of "several men", "7 or 8 men", or simply "men" as the participants in sweat bathing. Three specific instances are described and the participants number "a few", "12 or 13", and "20". Even when only one man is sweating, there are other people involved, outside the sweat bath itself, active in passing in food, tobacco and water, or removing and replacing coverings.

Sweat baths are consistently described covered in removable bark or skins. They seem generally to be built for a particular sweat. Physical descriptions include the following alternative specifications: "circular. . . waist high", six or seven feet high", and "4 or 5 poles in a ring and crossed, making a little arbour". Diameters are not specified, the constant implication is that sweat baths are as small as possible, designed to accommodate the heating stones and the users, with no waste space. The data suggest two size ranges with tiny sweat baths for individual oquis and larger structures for group bathing.

The use of sweat baths is related to health; one sweats to prevent sickness or sweats to effect a cure. Precisely how sweat baths relate to health is difficult to understand. Perhaps it would help to remember that the Huron appreciated the existence of three worlds or planes of existence, the world of the dead and spirits, the world of dreams, and the world of the living. These are inadequate descriptions, and perhaps "spiritual", "subconscious" and "conscious" would also contribute to an understanding. In some ways, the world of dreams or the subconscious is intermediate between the other two. In other ways, though, all three worlds are vitally interlinked, for the state of any one directly effects the states of the other two. It is clear that at least two of these three planes of existence (dreams and waking life) meet and interact vitally at a point of mystical union, the sweat bath.

An oqui sweats, alone or with others hoping to see visions that will help interpret the sick person s needs as expressed in his dreams. For, the satisfaction of deep psychological need has the power to cure. The relative of the captain mentioned above was sweating alone in order to enlist the aid of his "spirit" in the cure. Once, twenty men sweated with the sick man in order to bring that much more "human energy" to bear against the disease.

An oqui was described sweating in order that a vision would reveal the cause of an epidemic. Or again, a medecine man was consulted about what course a war party should take. He entered a sweat bath, sweated and sang, and then yelled "Victory! I see the enemies coming toward us from the south. I see them take to flight. I see all of you making prisoners of them." Based on this vision, the war party went south.

It is said that men may treat of secret affairs in the sweat bath. Or, If the occasion is informal, they will sing, each his song, singing about their dreams, or singing their war songs.

A partial summary of the above material, can single out several points germane to archaeological identification. Sweat baths are round, temporary structures, often erected in the middle of longhouses. They may be built of "4 or 5 poles in a ring", around a pile of heated rocks. Structures in two size ranges are indicated, the smaller used by medecine men who sweat alone, the larger by groups of men who come together in groups, by invitation.

Bringing together archaeological and ethnohistoric data, we find essential agreement upon the existence of round, temporary structures in the middle of longhouses. Sizes in the archaeological material group into two ranges as do sizes in the ethnohistoric data. These size ranges are relatively consistent with one another.

There is ethnographic evidence that sweat baths were used frequently. There are a total of 1007 posts in the clusters of the five houses under study. If one conveniently assumes an average of 5 posts to a sweat bath (based on reconciling the archaeological estimate of 5 -7 posts, with the ethnographic estimate of 4 -5 posts) one achieves the following estimate of sweat bath frequencies: HOUSE 3 - 12 baths, HOUSE 4 - 100 baths, HOUSE 5 - 31 baths, HOUSE 6 - 35 baths, HOUSE 8 - 22 baths, for a total of 200 sweat baths in the five houses. This seems consistent with the idea of frequent use.

The ethnographic accounts describe men sweating around heated rocks. Archaeologically, one may inspect the distribution of fire-cracked rock. Much of it could well derive from the heating piles themselves. Some fire-cracked rock was recovered from house floors, and is probably in good association, while the remaining rocks were recovered from pits, and so probably originated as floor debris near the pits. Table I shows that 15/18 clusters of rock (83%) were recovered from places close enough to the post clusters rather than hearths, that an association might be inferred. Thus, there is a broad association of fire-cracked rocks to post clusters, which is consistent with ethnographic accounts of sweat bath use.

	Pit	Floor
House 3	2/2
House 4	2/3	4/4
House 5	2/4
House 6	2/2	2/2
House 8	1/1
Totals	9/12	6/6
Both contexts	15/18

There is enough consistency between the two sources of information that one can reasonably conclude that most of the posts in the post clusters were generated by sweat baths. Therefore we have recognized a specific artifact in a specific context (i.e. the sweat bath in the longhouse). This is a very interesting artifact. It is related to the bodily and spiritual well-being of individuals or groups of individuals, pursuing these goals through its very nature as a point of mystical interaction between at least two planes of existence, the plane of dreams and the plane of ordinary reality.

There are two modes of sweat bath use, the one marked by the solitary practice of the specialist or oqui, the other depending upon the voluntary spiritual community of otherwise unrelated men sweating together. The archaeological discrimination of these two modes is simply a matter of recognizing a small sweat bath as opposed to a large one. As group sweating relates to council, to hospitality, to group participation in curing, to war parties, to visions, to war songs, the practice clearly unites mechanical processes of social integration with a major personal commitment in the form of profound metaphysical belief. Again, the sweat bath is a point of mystical interaction combining social duty and religious belief.

I freely admit that reconstructing the prehistory of sweat baths is speculative, simply because we may not be looking at a representative sample of houses. It Is dangerous to work with small pictures of already tiny posts, doubly so when there are not really very many of those pictures in print. The most serious problem with the Ontario sequence is the complete gap between the Bennett site houses (A.D. 1250) and the Copeland site houses (A.D. 1500). This is really a crucial time period arid I have tried to fill it with two fourteenth century Onondaga sites, reasoning that the overall direction of development seems similar to that in 0ntario although the precise dating of events could easily be different. Accepting those reservations, I think it is useful to try and reason out what we can learn from sweat baths already, to see if any new doorways to understanding are opened by their study.

A first glance at Table II shows that sweat baths are present in longhouses after Miller. They are frequent after Bennett and often very frequent after Howlett Hill. The mid-line location is most common at least in Ontario, throughout the sequence. Except at Howlett Hill and Fournier, it appears that sweat baths need not be built in all the houses of a village. The most interesting part of the table is the column which shows which patterns are present on the various sites.

date	site	affiliation	number of houses	frequency	stability to mid-line	pattern
1115	Miller	Pickering	1/7?	infrequent	mid-line	I,?
1250	Bennett	Pickering	2/7	frequent	mid-line	IV, ?
1300-1370	Furnace Brook	Onondaga-Oneida	3/7	frequent	wide	III
1380	Howlett Hill	Onondaga-Oneida	3/3	very frequent	wide	I III V
1500	Fournier	Northern Huron	2/2	very frequent	mid_line	III
1500	Copeland	Northern Huron	1/4	frequent	scattered	VI
1600	Sopher	Contact Huron	1/1	infrequent	mid_line	?
1620	Cahiague	Historic Huron	5/9	very frequent	mid—line	I II III IV V VI
	TABLE II : Characteristics of Iroquoian Sweat Baths in Houses
	infrequent - a few sparce remains near 1 hearth frequent - somewhat denser remains at several hearths very frequent - dense remains at most hearths

Pattern V (concentric stable) is present in HOUSE 3 at Howlett Hill and HOUSE 8 at Cahiagué. Both of these are short houses, Indeed they are the only short houses in the entire sample to contain sweat bath patterns. So far, they are the only houses of any sort to contain pattern V. Earlier, I suggested that the central pit in the Cahiagué houses might serve as a "memory" helping to stabilize the centre and serving as a reference point for the location of posts. No such central pit exists at Howlett Hill. However, as both of these houses are small, one could imagine the ready availability of close reference points and constraints within each, so that successive sweat bathe would be guided into closely similar positions.

Pattern III (honeycomb) is present at Furnace Brook, Howlett Hill and Fournier in a total of seven houses, as well as in HOUSE 6 at Cahiagué.. Pattern III is the most common of all recognized sweat bath patterns. At Fournier arid the earlier sites, the honeycomb effect is even more clearly defined than at Cahiagué, with individual sweat baths nestling tightly together. Since discrete patterns are so easily recognizable, so characteristic and so common, it is likely that these patterns are genuinely discrete, real, and non-random. There is some reason for associating these specific patterns (III and V) with specific architectural arid domestic contexts. Pattern V occurs only in short houses, where architectural constraints are readily visible. Pattern III occurs only in longhouses, where some other factor must be involved.

The individual sweat baths which make up pattern III tend to be small, with only a very few of them reaching a diameter of 4' and those only at the latest site, Cahiagué prehistorically they are all 2½' - 3 ' in diameter. In contrast, the individual sweat bathe making up pattern V all exceed 4' in diameter. In terms of our earlier distinction, the pattern III sweat baths seem to reflect the practice of individuals, primarily the oqui. or specialists, while the pattern V sweat baths seem to reflect the communal practice of sweating in groups. This observation may be extended to recognize that patterns III and IV are generally composed of small sweat baths while patterns II, V and VI tend to be made up of large sweat baths. Pattern I, the isolated sweat bath. may be large or small.

Concealed in Table II, there is a very important moment in the prehistory of sweat baths. Before Howlett Hill, only the small structures of patterns III and IV are present. After Howlett Hill. these are joined by the large structures of patterns II, V and VI. In other words, until Howlett Hill, sweat bathing was the exclusive domain of the solitary practitioner, presumably the medecine man or oqui. Afterwards the communal form of sweat bathing was practiced as well. Considering how spiritually powerful sweat baths are held to be in the Historic period, and how useful socially, this sudden extension of their use from the specialist to a community may imply a revolutionary moment in the evolution of Huron society and of Huron spirituality. For the individual and for the society there is a profound difference between believing that the direct experience of multiple realities is the domain only of specialists in isolation and believing that such experience is accessible to everyman in his groups. Soon, we will discuss this more fully.

Two interesting facts attend the introduction of group sweat bathing. First, the moment coincides with a dramatic increase in the overall frequency of sweat baths found on sites. Second, in the sequence as it stands, the earliest group sweat baths (pattern V) occur in a short house at Howlett Hill, a site where pattern III small baths dominate the two longer houses. Unless this is only a false impression (i.e that communal bathing started in small houses) due to working on a small series of sites, then it is clear that the communal bathing was introduced in circumstances different from those under which most people lived. If the inhabitants of a small, single-family dwelling were at some sort of social disadvantage, then perhaps it was the socially integrating, hospitality aspect of sweat bathing that appealed to them, extending their associations successfully beyond their doorways.

In any case, we may say that communal sweat bathing was introduced at the end of the 14th century, so long as we have correctly interpreted the difference between large and small baths as a difference in the number of participants, with a strong likelihood that the solitary user would probably be an oqui. The ethnohistoric evidence reported earlier supports this conclusion.

We return to the question of how particular sweat bath patterns were generated, asking "How is it that patterns III (honeycomb) and IV (overlapping circular) are the way they are, and why should they be different from pattern V (concentric stable)?"

Pattern V is made up entirely of large baths, and appearing as it does only in small houses, most likely represents the repeated constructions of a single host in his own house in any given case. It is reasonable that a smell house, with a smell space within which to build, provides enough points of reference close to hand that a combination of constraint, habit end unconscious "feel" are sufficient factors to lead successive posts into roughly the same positions. HOUSE 8 at Cahiagué shows clearly the pattern is formed in a small house. HOUSE 5 shows what happens when the same idea is tried in a longer house. A pattern VI (concentric irregular) emerges, with the roughly concentric circles varying very little from side to side but varying much more in their location along the length of the house. It is possible to see a number of cases where the successive posts form lines pointing along the long axis of the house. An even more extreme example of restricted movement from side to side but uncontrolled movement along the length of a house is evident in the pattern II (overlapping linear) example from HOUSE 6.

The forces operating to create patterns III and IV are probably different. The patterns are generally made up of small sweat baths. If these were erected by medecine men and if as we have seen, the arrangements are non—random, then it is possible to suggest that the choice of positions for successive sweat baths was somehow an important part of the oqui's ritual performance. The performance would include not only an oqui acts, but also precisely where he acts. A lot of ethnohistoric evidence agrees with the spirit of this interpretation, but I shall only describe some archaeological evidence which supports it indirectly. In HOUSE 4 at Cahiagué, where only small baths were erected, a neatly defined, clear-cut pattern IV cluster was developed. However, in HOUSE 6 where both large and small baths are included in a cluster (where that pattern no longer simply reflects an oqui’s activities) the pattern III cluster is poorly defined and diffuse. All of the pattern III (honeycomb) clusters at Fournier and earlier sites, which include only small baths, are much tighter and more clearly defined, with individual sweat baths nestling neatly together. In HOUSE 8 at Cahiagué, a small bath has been built off to the side of a pattern V cluster, as if a ritual specialist at one time began elaborating the original pattern.

So, it is possible that when we are looking at clusters made by oquis the pattern may be related to the structure of the ritual performance. Whether the principle underlying successive sweat bath locations is one of complementarity or avoidance, is unclear. When we are looking at clusters made up of communal sweat baths erected by non-specialists, the pattern is most strongly influenced by the space people are working within.

In summary, then, communal sweat bathing first appeared at the end of the 14th century. Before that time, the sweat beth was a structure used only by the solitary practitioner. After that time oquis continued to use sweat baths, but they were joined by various groups of people sweating communally. It is possible to see the difference between communal and individual sweat baths both in the size of the respective structures and in the manner of forming clusters of successive baths.

By the historic period, communal sweat bath use represents one aspect of an idea of spiritual community, in the sense that many men together can experience and work with multiple realities (conscious, subconscious and spiritual); it is not only the specialist who can do so, and indeed there is evidence that what Christians would call the "worshipping community", with all the powerful implications of that phrase, is to some degree present in Huron society.

The question is, did the Huron experience of "community" in this sense exist from or is the introduction of communal sweat bathing related to a critical time in the evolution of a specific, overt concept of "community"? There is reason to believe that before communal sweat bathing began, solitary individuals, perhaps specialists, experienced the sweat bath alone. Later, groups of people shared in those experiences. Is this movement unique to sweat bathing?

I think not. I think that the prehistory of ossuary burial shows a similar evolution occurring at roughly the same time. Ossuaries were another point at which the three planes of Huron existence converged. Ossuaries depended upon the voluntary spiritual community of all of the living, blending the bones of their common dead, so that in their mystical union, they would create unity among the living, unifying the village, the nation, and their allies. Champlain describes ossuary practice among the Huron, saying that every eight or ten years,

This is not the most complete description of ossuary burial given by French explorers and missionaries, indeed both Sagard and Brébeuf go into much more detail. But Champlain captures the essence of ossuary practice, as an integrative arid mystical device. He does not really evoke its urgency and paramount importance, not so clearly as Sagard does, for example. Sagard also relates its practice to the time of village movement, when people are going to a new place, and when the community may be fragmented.

From Table III it is possible to trace the prehistoric development of the Huron Ossuary pattern. At Miller, there are small secondary burial pits containing very few interments (at most 13) deposited in bundles. There are few grave goods and no other signs of ceremonialism. By the middle of the fifteenth century, there are large pits, containing many interments (as many as 512). Some of the bone is already being mixed together, while the presence of linings and more grave goods indicates an increase in ceremonialism. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the full pattern is known, with large pits, many interments, a predominance of bone mixing, many gravegoods and evidence of ceremonialism, including linings and scaffolding.

Obviously, the burial pits at Miller could not represent the kind of behaviour Champlain describes. The Cahiagué and Ossossané ossuaries reflect it exactly. We can see in the evolution of ossuaries that an idea has grown up, much the same idea that we traced through the development of sweat baths. The pattern at Miller suggests much less concrete awareness of the extensions of "community"; there are few interments, each of these is discrete, and ceremonialism is at a minimum. In contrast, the Historic pattern is marked by a large number of people acting as a community, with ceremonialism and donation of grave goods suggesting broad individual participation, and with the blending of bones suggesting that this community participation is in the mystical experience of multiple realities. Furthermore, this evolution to an idea of spiritual community, in burial practice, reached a critical moment between the end of the 14th century and the middle of the 15th century, the same period more or less that communal sweat bathing was introduced.

In the foregoing discussion, I have not tried to prove that all Huron became more "spiritual" in the early 15th century than they ever had been before. Neither have I tried to prove that Huron after that time walked around constantly seeing visions and hearing prophecies. Some Huron certainly did, just as some people everywhere have.

What I have been saying is that the Huron had a history before European contact, and that this history witnessed changes not only in their technology and economy, but also in their attitudes. One of these changes in attitude involved the evolution of an idea of "community", a concept that had a spiritual, emotional and behavioural meaning that differed from the Hurons own earlier ideas of how society worked. In other words, a Huron living at Cahiagué probably understood the social world differently than a Pickering Iroquois living at the Miller site.

The communal sweat bath and the ossuary form of burial were powerful social integrative mechanisms. The Historic Huron had many such overt mechanisms, including a multiplicity of councils, feasts, dances and ceremonies. Many of these latter institutions also had the profound spiritual component evident in sweat bath and ossuary ceremonialism. Many of them were conducted in the mystical, closed space of the shut-off longhouse. Many of them were associated with pipe smoking so that smoke might rise to peoples brains and enable them to "see more clearly".

The singular interest of sweat baths and ossuaries is that their evolution can be traced archaeologically. The significant developments in both can thus be correlated with other major archaeologically recognizable developments of the 14th and 15th centuries. As Wright, Ridley, Emerson and Pendergast have shown, these two centuries mark a time when genuinely Huron cultures began to crystallize out of a Middleport base in the separate areas of Simcoe, Prince Edward and York Counties, and when the Huron migrations out of the southern counties toward historic Huronia began. It was a time when (as Wright suggested, and as the present author has traced in some detail) the Ontario Iroquois peoples adopted an entire pipe complex from outside sources, integrated it rapidly within their own culture and proceeded to elaborate it rapidly. It was a time when palisading developed rapidly so that fortifications became more elaborate, more substantial and presumably more effective.

Based upon the preceding discussion, I propose the following hypotheses for further testing:

1115	Miller	small pit	bundles	(13) few interments
1400	Middleport	"	mostly bundles, some "en masse"*	"
1450	Tabor Hill Fairty	big pit*	"	(512) many interments*	linings*
1600	Sopher	"	"	"	"	scaffolding*
1620	Cahiagué Ossossane	"	some bundles mostly "en masse"*	"	"	"
Table III: Ossuary Trends Through Time
Adapted and Modified from Noble, W.C., Iroquois Archaeology and the Development of Iroquois Social Organization (1000-1650 A.D.) Ph.D. Dissertaion, The University of Calgary, Calgary, 1968. *asterisks indicate first introduction or stabilization of components of historic ossuary pattern.